Return To Care A Lot
by meguhanu
Summary: 16 year old Christy has lost John, Dawn, and Dark Heart. But she has found a way to deal with the sadness. But now, the Care Bears and Cousins need her help to overcome the uncaring and destruction of Care A Lot before the world plunges into chaos. OOC
1. Death

**Return To Care-A-Lot**

**Chapter 1**

When she had last saw them with her eyes, she was waving her hand saying good-bye. A sad grin was plastered on her face.

She was standing on the dock with John, Dawn, and the boy she and her friends had saved, Dark Heart. The power of love and caring had saved him. And that power laid in their hearts and within the hearts of the Care Bears and Care Cousins.

Thanks to those creatures of caring, they had saved themselves, the kids of the camp, and the world. Without these kids taking action, the caring of the world would have been lost forever.

Now, Christy's world is in turmoil. Everywhere she goes, there is violence, death, and uncaring. She just didn't care anymore.

Christy walked with a devastated look on her face. Her head was down, her now waist length brown hair covered her face on both sides. She didn't get any attention to people who passed her by.

She was not the happy girl she was when she had left camp all those years ago. Now she was 16, living with her mom, her life had taken a turn for the worse. Her thoughts clouded her mind as she continued to walk to her destination.

Her parents had gotten divorced, her hormones in her teenage body raced now and again, and the worst of her life was when she had received the news that her beloved friends from camp had tragically died.

_Dark Heart was an orphan when he left camp. He was thrown into an orphanage. He had no friends, no hope, and had been an orphan for almost 5 years. Turning his life from bad to hell, he had started to drink. Always going to alcohol to solve his problems._

_He had stolen a car and crashed it into a telephone pole. The car had burst into flames taking with it, his body. The funeral had been a closed casket. Christy Dawn and John were together comforting each other. All 3 of them had big chunks of tears clouding their eyes. "Just think of it this way," said John. He sniffled and looked at his girls. "He's in a better place now," he said his voice choked up. The girls nodded their heads._

Christy, John, and Dawn got into their parents car after saying their final good-bye to their friend.

Christy then turned her thoughts to John and Dawn.

Several months after the funeral, Christy's mom had gotten a call from the twins' mother. They too had died. "WHAT?!" screamed Christy. She had been called to the kitchen by her mom. Her mom was crying as well. "Dear, I am so sorry," she said.

"_How?" asked Christy in between the sobs. "Well," she started. "After your other friend's death, John and Dawn had been getting into trouble. A way to escape their sadness. They started hanging out with this gang. And they were in the middle of robbing a bank and they were gunned down," she said._

_Christy was in so much shock and disarray, she took off out the door and ran to the only place she wanted to go…to her church._

That was 3 months ago. Christy had been walking alone a lot after school. Her grades in classes stayed the same. She barely talked to anyone. She hardly ate anything as well.

Christy looked up and saw that she had reached her destination. It was her church. She had been helping out with the kids while the parents practiced for the choir.

This day was not the same. Usually the kids were always running around and playing in the classroom. But this time, they were all sitting down, drawing.

Christy heeded no mind to the turn of events. She found it peaceful. Just as soon as she sat down, the parents had come into the class and got their children. "Done already?" she asked one of the parents.

"Yes," said a mother of a girl. "The choir practiced had been cancelled due to the director not feeling good," she said. "Oh," said Christy. "I'll see you all next week!" she said as the kids left with their parents.

Christy stayed behind and cleaned up the room. That's when she saw the pictures the kids had been drawing. They were of the Care Bears and the Care Bears Cousins. She smiled as she saw them, but then she frowned.

These pictures were not cheerful with innocence, but impure with evil. In the pictures, Care-A-Lot had almost been destroyed. One huge dark cloud hung in the sky above Care-A lot.

The Care Bears and Cousins were not colorful and full of joy and caring, but gray with unhappiness and dread.

Christy looked through all the other pictures. They were all the same, even with that one dark cloud.

"What the hell is this?" she spoke. She looked out the window and up in the clouds that had formed in the sky. "Is this what has become of them?" she asked herself.

Gathering all the pictures, she headed up to the bell tower to look out in to the sky. Once there she began talking.

"God," she whispered. Her eyes were sad.

"I know that my life right now is full of sadness. I have found the right way to work through it, but now my friends are in trouble. Something has happened to the Care Bears. Please take me to them. I want to help them," she said.

Then she was gathered in sparkling white lights and magically transported to Care A Lot, or what was left of it.


	2. The Careless Care Bears

**Return to Care A Lot**

**Chapter 2**

Christy felt herself float upwards. Her eyes were closed. A feeling of happiness and caring engulfed her. She smiled as she felt her body be at peace. She wanted to swim in this feeling forever.

As quick as the feeling took her over, it was gone. Another one came, but this one was dark and terrifying. Her body went as cold as a corpse. She couldn't breathe or move. Her eyes then bulged open. She didn't know where she was.

She looked around and all she saw were dark clouds with lightning eluminating from them. Broken pieces of colored glass were on the ground. Christy began to walk around the glass. That's when it struck her!

"This is Care A Lot," she whispered. She bent down and examined the glass. It was actually shattered pieces of a rainbow. Slowly tears stained her eyes.

She wiped away from her face. This was no time to cry. She had to see what the heck had happened to this once cheerful place. Walking for what seemed like hours and looking at all the destruction, Christy came across the Hall of Hearts.

Like all the rest of the cloud homes, it was broken apart.

It looked like a flesh wound just bleeding from the inside and pouring out. All the color had been drained.

Running inside, she saw all the black and white careless care bears just sitting down. She ran from one to the other. "Cheer Bear?" she asked. No answer. Not even a blink. "Grumpy Bear?" she asked again. No response.

"Brave Heart? Tender Heart? Playful Heart? True Heart? Noble Heart? Share? Funshine? Hugs? Tugs?" She stood in the middle of the Hall. She kept calling out their names while the sadness of the situation overcame her.

"There is no use calling out for them," said a male voice. Christy gasped as she turned around to see the form that the voice came from.

There in the doorway stood a boy. A teenage boy around 18 years of age. He had long blood red hair tied back in a ponytail. His eyes were pure red and full of evil.

Christy stepped backwards with fright. "Dar-Dark Heart?" she asked completely surprised and confused. He chuckled as he stepped forward into the Hall. "Aren't you glad to see me?" he asked getting closer and closer to the terrified girl.


	3. Explanation

**Return To Care-A-Lot**

**Chapter 3**

Dark Heart was getting closer and closer to the terrified teen. Christy's legs wouldn't stand on their own, therefore she crawled away from the nightmare that she had thought died off long ago.

"Wha? How? When?" she asked, her mind jumbled up with a million questions. She couldn't even get one to come out right. Dark Hearts red eyes didn't leave her for one minute.

He kneeled down to her and looked at her right in her questionable yet fearful eyes. "Let me guess. You want to know how I returned?" he asked her. Christy nodded her head.

"Well, it happened about a couple months ago. See, my foster parents treated me so well. We were about the picture perfect family. But you know what they say. 'There's no such thing as a perfect family."

Christy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her eyes started to fill with tears. She didn't want to know what else he was going to tell her. For all she knew he could be lying about the parents. Dark Heart's voice cut through her thoughts while continuing his story.

"My dad started to drink because of the stressfulness of work. He was a lawyer you know. I ignored the drinking he did for some time. But then he became more and more violent. Taking out the drunkenness on my mom. He hit her more times than a child hitting a piñata. Soon, there was no ignoring it. He got so drunk that he was going to kill my mom. I saw him about to stab her with a kitchen knife. My conscience took over. I ran and grabbed the knife from him and accidentally stabbed him in the heart. He was dead before his body hit the floor. My mom was in shock. She just sat there looking at her husband's body. It was like looking at an empty shell. The soul was gone, and then so was I. I ran and ran away from that place,"

"I killed my father. Then before I knew it, I felt this evil sensation take over me. It felt good. And now here I am back and more evil then you can even remember," he said.

Christy looked at him in shock. "You killed your own father?" she asked finding her voice. "It was either him or my mom. If he managed to kill my mom, there is no doubt in my mind that he would have killed me next," he said.

Christy averted her gaze on him and looked at the frozen bears and cousins. "But why the Care Bears? Why destroy the Hall of Hearts? What motive would you have for doing this to them?!" she yelled while getting her balance.

Dark Heart snickered at her comment. "Simple," he said, flipping his hair. "The Bears saw what I did to my father. How I murdered him. They came down to me and pleaded for me to turn myself in. You should have seen how pathetic it was. I told them no obviously. But you know the Bears. They are so persistent," he said while releasing Christy from the wall and walking up to the Bears and touching their frozen bodies.

"But I can only take too much. They finally saw that I wasn't going to turn myself in. They stared me down, but I overpowered them. Sometimes the power of evil is more than enough to conquer good. I escaped them. I hid myself for a day or so. With my returned powers, it was easy to get a shelter and food," he said before continuing.

"A couple of days after I knew they weren't coming after me, I went after them. I came up here and destroyed Care-A-Lot. Now they will never bother me again, and for that fact, nobody ever again," he said.

Christy saw him walking closer and closer to her. Christy stood up and waited for Dark Heart to make his next move. He got so close that their bodies were 2 inches apart. He touched her cheek. Christy slapped his hand away and backed up even more until her back hit the rotting wall.

Dark Heart chuckled. He swooped up to her and pinned her body with his. He touched her chin and made her look into his blood red eyes. His touch was firm.

"So what do you say Christy? Do you want to come with me or suffer like the rest of the room?" he asked. Christy couldn't believe this. "How did you know I'd be here?" she asked, trying to stall him.

"I watch the news and read the papers. I saw Dawn and John's parents deaths. You all looked so lonely in your despair. I saw you too. You have become a sensational beautiful young woman," he replied. "I have no use for the twins," he said. Christy glared at him. "So this is all a coincidence?" she asked.

"The end of Care-A-Lot. Your return? This is all one big COINCIDENCE?!" she asked in a loud tone. "Well, I don't know about that, but what I do know is that if you don't come with me, you can die like the rest of this place," he said.

He grabbed her hair and made her look at the frozen statues of the once caring home where anyone would call home. "So, what do you say? Is it going to be me or them?" he asked in an icy tone.


	4. Caring and Loving

**Return To Care-A-Lot**

**Chapter 4**

Christy's mind didn't know what to do. She looked around the hall at the little gray bears. Tears once again stung her eyes. She remembered what Dark Heart had asked her. _So what do you say Christy? Is it going to be me or them?_

"If I say you, does that mean that you will release them from their carelessness?" she asked Dark Heart turning her head to look into his eyes.

His tough grip on her chin was bruising her face. The tears which had formed in her eyes now cascaded down her cheeks and onto his hand.

Dark Heart chuckled as he bowed his head down. Christy watched his every move. He then brought his head back up. He smiled at her. She whimpered in fear.

He noticed her breath came in small gasps. Her breathing was getting more and more shallow the longer he held onto her.

"Well Christy, if you say you will come with me, I shall release Care-A-Lot," he said as he let go of her chin and started for the door that led to the clouds.

Christy massaged her chin. She watched his retreating back. Her eyes scanned the place that was once so full of caring and loving. "No," she stated firmly. She death glared Dark Heart's back.

"Care to repeat that?" he asked.

"Are you deaf?" she asked him. "There is no way in hell that I will choose evil over good," she said as she clenched her hands into fists at her sides.

"You don't have a choice," said Dark Heart. "There is no hope for the Care Bears. Look at our world Christy. It's been evil for some time now. Look at all the death in the world. The Bears did nothing to help the world. People die every day. There is noting you can do to stop it. It's the way the world works" he said.

"You're wrong! Everyone has a choice! You only counted the evil in the world. There are good people here! You were a good person once! Just because you're too blinded by the darkness of the world to see, it doesn't mean it isn't there!" she screamed.

"You have a point there," said Dark Heart as he closed his eyes.

Christy sighed as she kneeled down in front of one of the Care Bears. It was Tender Heart. "The power of good always conquers the power of evil," she said. "You did it once before," she stated firmly.

"No matter what you say or do, you can't bring the bears back to life," he said.

"I was the one who plunged this place of caring into a place of dread. Only I can make it the way it was before," he said.

"Oh yeah?" asked Christy. "Just watch me," said Christy as she gently placed her arms around Tender Heart and pulled him close to her heart.

She thought of all the good times she had had as a child. She tenderly kissed him on the cheeks.

Tender Heart's body turned from a gray back into red. He closed his eyes and grunted. He then blinked. Tender Heart was back to normal.

"How is that possible?!" asked Dark Heart. "What happened asked Tender Heart. He then noticed Christy's arms around his little fur form. "Christy?" he asked.

"Welcome Back," said Christy. "What's going on?" asked Tender Heart. Christy gasped as she heard Dark Heart yelling in anger.

Red smoke was coming out of his body. He was evaporating back into the red cloud. "There is no time to explain. We have to get the rest of the Care Bears back to normal!" she screamed.

"Alright. I'll stare him down while you get everyone back to their pure state," said Tender Heart.

"Got it!" said Christy as she dashed to each bear as fast as she could and smoldered them in kisses and hugs. It worked perfectly for in no time all the bears and cousins were once again colorful.

Chatter reached her ears as she had accomplished what she was meant to do.

"CARE BEARS! CARE COUSINS! COUNTDOWN!" yelled Tender Heart. Christy stood behind the bears as they counted down the stare. "FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE! STARE!" they shouted in unison.

Their little tummy symbols busted out in a colorful light. They had hit their mark which was now a cloud of blood red smoke.

Christy heard a distant crash outside and knew it was a storm. She looked out the window behind her and noticed that it was raining.

But this rain was in a dash of all the colors of the rainbow. The grayness color of Care-A-Lot was vanishing and the color took over the clouds. Christy smiled in delight.

The stare was working, for as Dark Heart was getting weaker, so was the hold he had on Care-A-Lot. Just a little more and his hold would let go.

While in her astonishment, she didn't see the cloud of red smoke known as Dark Heart float over the Care Bear Stare and land behind her. All the bears noticed this. "CHRISTY!" called Playful Heart.

"LOOK OUT!" called Brave Heart. When hearing her name, Christy looked behind her to notice Dark Heart in human form tower above her. "Oh no!" she called. But it was too late.

Dark Heart had grabbed her hair and made her body spin around so that her body was shielding his from the care bears.

With one hand holding her hair and the other hand garb her throat, Christy couldn't move from the position Dark Heart had put her in.

_I guess he's so weak from the stare, he can't use any more of his powers, _thought Christy.

"You try that one more time, and I won't hesitate to break her neck," he said. All gasps came from the Bears and Cousins.

"Let her go," said Noble Heart. He tried stepping closer, but that made Dark Heart tighten his grip around Christy's neck. A peep of terror came out Christy's mouth.

"YOU DON'T WANT TO MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF," said Dark Heart in a threatening voice.


	5. Defeated

**Return To Care-A-Lot**

**Chapter 5**

Christy could hardly breathe with the iron like grip that Dark Heart had her in. Her hands held his arms while he yelled at the Bears and Cousins to stay back otherwise he would break her neck.

She whimpered as his grip got tighter. Her windpipe was closing up making it more difficult for Christy to breathe.

She looked at the Bears in the eyes. She needed help now. "Stare him," she choked out.

True Heart stepped forward a step. "We can't," she said.

"If we do, it's going to hit you instead of him," said Wish Bear from behind the others.

Dark Heart chuckled evilly.

"So sorry Care Bears and Cousins, but as you can see there is nothing you can do, so please step aside so Christy and I can leave," he said as he started dragging her by her hair to the heart shaped door.

"Not a chance," came Tender Heart's voice. The little red bear was standing in front of the door with his arms reached out on either side of him.

His eyes were mad. "You are not leaving this place until you let her go," he said.

"Oh?" asked Dark Heart. He put his arm tighter around Christy's neck until her face was turning blue. He was choking her.

Christy coughed and coughed trying to get some oxygen into her lungs.

Dark Heart let her neck go so she could breathe. She gasped in and out for air.

"Next time, I won't hesitate to choke her to her death," he said as he glared at the tiny bear.



"Tender Heart," said Brave Heart walking over to him.

"Let them go, if we don't he's going to kill Christy," he said.

"I know," said Tender Heart in a whisper.

"You know?" asked Brave Heart.

"Play along," said Tender Heart. "I've got a plan," he said.

"Alright," said Brave Heart and he too stood in front of the door with his arms stretched out.

All the other Bears and Cousins didn't know what these two were up to, but they loved and trusted Tender Heart and Brave Heart. SO then all the others stood in front of the door with their arms outstretched preventing Dark Heart from leaving.

"Stare him!" yelled Christy.

"THREE! TWO! ONE!" shouted everyone in unison

"CARE STARE!" then once again their tummy symbols busted out in a gleaming rainbow of color and caring, and sure enough it hit Dark Heart right in the chest.

Christy had elbowed Dark Heart in the rib cage and then stomped on his foot. She dove for the ground and covered her head with her arms just in time, for the stare hit him smack in the chest.

"GAHHHH!!" he yelled as his body soared backwards and hit the wall while the stare kept on hitting him.

"NO!" he screamed. He was weaker than ever so there was no way he could evaporate into the red cloud he was earlier.

"This is not the end!" he yelled one final time until he fell into unconsciousness.

The stare died down and Christy looked up to find that he was indeed knocked out.

She sighed in relief. She smiled at the Bears and Cousins.

"You saved my life once again," she said as she crawled over to them.



She was struck with hugs from every single one of them.

"Thank you. Thank you," she said over and over again.

"Your welcome," said Proud Heart.

"What are we going to do with him?" asked Christy looking over at Dark Heart while she got to her feet.

"Well we can't kill him," said Grumpy Bear. Every pair of eyes looked at him.

"What?" he asked in an angry tone, crossing his arms.

Cozy Heart sighed. "Oh Grumpy," he said.

"What about if we take him back to Earth to the police station?" suggested Funshine.

"I think that would be best," said Cheer Bear.

"I'll go with him," said Christy, walking over to Dark Heart's body. She kneeled down and checked for a pulse and sure enoug he had one.

Secret Bear walked up and stared out a key.

He handed it to Christy. "What's this for?" she asked. She kneeled closer to the bear. Secret Bear whispered into her ear "It's the key to the handcuffs.

""What handcuffs?" asked Christy.

"These ones," said Harmony Bear. She pulled out a pair of heart shaped handcuffs. She put his hands behind his back and clicked them shut on Dark Heart's wrists. She put the key safely in her pocket.

"Where did you?" Christy asked while looking at the handcuffs.

"We forged them from all our symbols put together. They are magic handcuffs. We knew a day would come we would have to use them," said Grumpy Bear.

"Oh," replied Christy.

She turned around and carried Dark Heart outside to a waiting cloud car.

Noble Heart got in the driver's seat and True Heart sat in the front seat.

Christy and Dark Heart took the back seats. Everyone helped Christy get Dark Heart into the car.

Christy once again looked around Care-A-Lot before they took off into the clouds. She smiled and blew kisses to the bears and cousins as they waved good-bye.

They were soaring in the clouds. Christy kept her eyes on Dark Heart the whole ride. She didn't want to take her eyes off of him for one second.

Then Earth came into view. The car was descending. "Make sure you land in an alley near the station," said Christy. And sure enough, they did.

Christy hauled Dark Heart out of the car and onto her back. "Thank you for everything," said Christy smiling and she hugged the 2 before she watched them take off to the heavens to the now restored Care-A-Lot.


	6. The Last Resort

Return To Care A Lot

Chapter 6

Christy saw the Care Bears disappear into the clouds. She sighed. "Time to face the music," she told an unconscious Dark Heart on her back.

She walked into the police station and got looks from the cops and the detectives.

"Can I help you Miss?" asked one of the officers. Christy looked at the officer who looked young. She read his name tag and it said Officer Stevens.

"Yes. Thank you," said Christy as she put Dark Heart on a chair. She sat next to him and the Stevens sat next to her.

"I don't know how to put this," said Christy.

"It's best just to start at the beginning," said the officer.

"This guy right here," said Christy pointing to Dark Heart.

"He told me he about his foster parents. He told me his dad was a lawyer. And that he was also a drunk. He was going after his mom to hurt her. He protected his mom in self defense, but it was all an accident," said Christy.

"Alright miss," said the officer.

"When you say 'protected' you mean?" asked Stevens.

"Yeah. He killed his dad. But he told me it was an accident," said Christy.

"Alright," said Stevens as he got up.

Christy looked at Dark Heart and saw that he still had the handcuffs on him. "Crap," she whispered.

She didn't want the cops to get the wrong idea, so she tried to break them off to no avail.

"I already handcuffed him with some handcuffs I found in my sister's room," said Christy to Stevens before he could ask.

"That's fine miss. What's your name and his?" asked Stevens.

"My name is Christy and his is Dark Heart," said Christy and then she covered her mouth.

"Did you say 'Dark Heart'?" asked Stevens in confusion.

"Uh," was all Christy said as she looked at Dark Heart who looked like he was a sleeping comfortably.

"That's what he wants me to call him," chuckled Christy nervously.

"You have no idea what his real name is?" asked Stevens.

"No," answered Christy.

"Alright Miss," said Stevens as he went to his desk and over to his computer.

Christy sighed as she continued to try to get the handcuffs off.

"Damn," she said getting agitated.

Christy gave up. There was no way to get the handcuffs off. She sighed deeply and looked at Dark Heart. She put some of his stray hair behind his ear as she watched him breathe in and out, perfectly harmless in his current state.

Christy found herself thinking about her memories when she was a little girl back at the camp. Everything back then wasn't simple. It was far from it. It was like a horror movie to her.

Stevens came back and informed Christy that they were being brought into an interrogation room. Christy, with help from Stevens, lifted up Dark Heart's body and went in the interrogation room.

Christy sat down next to Dark Heart.

"I will be back in a few minutes," Stevens said.

Christy nodded and noticed the huge mirror in the room.

She glared at it. She didn't know if there was someone else on the other side. She stood up and looked at her reflection.

Her hair was in disarray, her clothes were ripped, and the little make-up she had on was smudged.

She looked around the mirror and then she looked at Dark Heart.

She walked up to him and hugged his head to her chest.

Still thinking about the good times she had with him, she started to tear up.

Soon, she was hugging him and crying endless tears. Dark Heart started to stir and soon he was awake.

"So you're a crybaby too huh?" he asked her.

Christy gasped and stepped away from him.

"Oh. So the sleeping beast awakes," she said, crossing her arms and pushing her back against the door.

"You know you want me," said Dark Heart.

"Like I want a wart," said Christy.

Dark Heart chuckled.

"I always knew you had some spunk," said Dark Heart.

"I have a lot more than you can give me," said Christy.

"Right," said Dark Heart.

He looked around.

"You know this place cannot hold me," he said as he tried to evaporate into the red smoke to make his escape.

"You are not going anywhere," said Christy as she noticed he was having trouble.

Dark Heart looked down and then noticed the handcuffs.

"Magic," he sneered.

"Got to love it," said Christy.

"Give me the key," he told her sternly.

"Sorry. I don't have it. The bears never gave me one. Looks like you're stuck," she said.

"I'm never stuck for long," said Dark Heart.

"You are when you got magic handcuffs on you that prevent you from escaping," said Christy

Dark Heart glared at Christy as he stood up and made his way over to her, pinning her body to the door with his.

Christy's breathing became shallow.

Dark Heart was incredibly close to her now.

"If I don't get out of here, neither will you," he said in her ear.

Christy closed her eyes and then opened them. Rage and sadness stuck to her.

"Now, you listen to me bub," she said pushing him away.

Dark Heart wasn't surprised that she was starting to shove him around.

"The only reason I am here with you is to see that you get put in jail and never come out. Back when we were kids at the camp, after you admitted you cared, evil had left you. I even had a crush on you for some time after that. You, myself, John, and Dawn were all friends. We had the time of our lives! You cared for us! And now look at you! You are nothing! You think you are evil! This isn't even the beginning of being evil. Deep down in my heart, I think you are good. I still have hope that I can bring back the boy no, the man, that I know you still are. He is buried deep within your heart. And I will not stop until he is back," said Christy.

Dark Hearts eyes were wide when Christy was talking.

Tears rolled down Christy's cheeks while she did the one thing she wanted to do.

She grabbed Dark Heart and kissed him hard on his lips.

_You are good. You are not evil. You are good, _Christy thought as she deepened the kiss.

Dark Heart didn't know what to do. He didn't know whether to keep kissing her or to shove her away. He felt weird. He felt light for some reason.

_What is going on?!_ his mind yelled.

_It's the girl! She's doing this_! Another part of his mind yelled back.

Dark Heart shoved Christy away.

She landed on the marble floor due to the hardness of his push. She looked up and saw something happening to Dark Heart.

Some part of him was fading. It was evaporating up into the red smoke.

"It worked," said Christy.


	7. Justice

**Return To Care-A-Lot**

**Chapter 7**

Christy sat on the floor, watching the red smoke in the air.

She glanced at Dark Hearts body. The red smoke rose into the air, but just before it was all out, it went right back into Dark Heart's mouth.

He closed his mouth and breathed in deeply.

His wrists were smoking. The cuffs were glowing a bright red. They were melting. Then Dark Heart threw apart his hands, and the handcuffs broke off.

He threw a wicked smile at Christy.

Christy gasped and her body started to shake.

"Did you really think that it was the power of evil controlling me?" he asked her as he stood up.

"It was all me. Being good? Oh please!" he yelled at her. He grabbed Christy by the neck and yanked her up, pinning her to the mirror.

"It's better to be feared than loved," he whispered in his ear.

Christy put her hands on his to try to pry them off, but he was incredibly strong, both in his power and in his physical being.

"Now, if you don't mind Christy, I have some unfinished business with the ones up top," said Dark Heart.

He released Christy and walked towards the door.

"'The ones up top?' You mean the Care Bears and Cousins?" she asked.

"No. I think I meant God," said Dark Heart sarcastically.

"You monster," said Christy.

"Oh! You hurt my feelings, Christy. My heart is broken," taunted Dark Heart.

"How can I hurt you? YOU DON'T HAVE A HEART!" yelled Christy.

She bolted for the door, but thankfully, the police entered the room, guns drawn before she even reached the door.

"Sure. Now they enter," whispered Christy.

Dark Heart just chuckled.

"Measly guns won't hurt me," he said.

Christy knew what she had to do.

She reached for Officer Stevens' gun which was in her hand.

He didn't even see her coming at him when she took the gun out of his hands and fired the bullet.

It all happened so fast.

All Christy saw was Dark Heart reaching for his chest, with the blood protruding out of his wound, as his body fell to the floor.

Christy had shot Dark Heart.

Her mouth was agape in shock.

"Oh My God! What have I done?" asked Christy.

Stevens took the gun from her and escorted her out of the room while the paramedics that were already there attending to his wound.

Christy saw Dark Heart was taken out on a gurney, surely headed towards a hospital.

Christy went with the officer to his office while waiting for someone to tell them the result of the shooting. They even waited for the phone to ring just in case.

"Why didn't you come in?" asked Christy.

"We saw the whole thing through the glass," said Stevens.

Christy looked at him while playing with her hair.

"And what did you see?" she asked.

"We saw everything," said Stevens looking at her intently.

"Great," said Christy.

An hour had passed until one of the paramedics entered the room after they had dropped Dark Heart off at the hospital.

Stevens and Christy arose and waited for the news.

"The bullet went straight through his heart. He died on the way to the hospital," he said.

Christy started crying.

"I'm sorry for your loss," said the paramedic.

"I'm crying because I'm happy," said Christy.

"He can never hurt anyone again. I guess apart of him was still human after all," said Christy.

Stevens and the paramedic exited the office and looked at each other.

"I believe I have to arrest her for first degree murder," said Stevens.

"Yeah, I think she might end up in a padded cell," said the paramedic.

Two weeks had passed and Christy was indeed sentenced to life in prison for manslaughter in the first degree.

She hadn't seen the Care Bears since then.

Christy was in a prison cell tossing and turning in her bed, obviously having a nightmare.

"NO!" she screamed.

"NO!" she screamed again.

"NO!!" then she bolted awake panting and sweating.

"Are you alright?" asked a familiar voice from the foot of her bed.

Christy looked down towards her feet and there was Tender Heart bear.

"Oh Tender heart," Christy said, careful not to let anyone see him or know he was there.

"It's ok," said Tender Heart. The guards can't see me," he said.

"A special powder for a special visit to Earth," he said.

"Sneaky even for the Care Bears," smile Christy as she moved her feet to allow Tender Heart to sit on her bed next to her.

She hugged the little bear in her arms.

He hugged her back.

"I've missed you guys so much," said Christy.

"How's everything in Care A Lot?" she asked.

"Everything is back to the way it should be, thanks to you, but that's not why I've come," said Tender Heart.

"You've come to talk to me about Dark Heart and how I killed him," said Christy.

Tender Hearts expression on his face turned from sorrow to serious.

"You know what you did was wrong," he said.

"That's why I'm here," said Christy as she flew her hands around the jail cell.

"How long did you get?" asked Tender Heart.

"25 years," said Christy.

"That's a long time," said Tender Heart.

"I know. But it's worth it. I did wrong and I'm going to pay for it," Christy said.

"I admire your spirit, but just because you killed someone for a good reason doesn't make it a good deed," said Tender Heart.

"I know," said Christy, her head downcast causing the brunette locks of hair to fall into her face.

She brushed it out and looked at the little red bear.

"Care A Lot is now safe again," said Christy trying to look at the bright side of the situation.

"The evil that was in Dark Heart will never die. It's a matter of time before we'll have to face it again," said Tender Heart.

"But I thought I killed it," said Christy getting worried.

"You killed the person that the evil inhabited. Like life, there is no good without evil, no light without dark," said Tender Heart.

Christy felt awful. She thought that she had killed the evil, but as she now knew, evil never dies.

"But what about the police? They said they saw everything happen when we were in the interrogation room. Surely they know something is up," she said.

"We already took care of that with the combined power of out symbols," said Tender Heart.

"Whew," said Chirsty wiping away some sweat that had found it's way to her forehead.

"I've got to back up to Care A Lot," Tender Heart said.

Christy nodded her head and she hugged the little bear once again and gave him a kiss.

Tender Heart hugged her back while once single tear fell out of his eye and landed on Christy. She smiled gently at this emotional gesture. His heart had been crying along with Christy's.

"Take care," said Christy as she watched him exit the bars easily and leave in the Cloud Car.

"I love you!" called Tender Heart to her.

"I love you too!" Christy shouted back, until 25 years later when she was released, she looked up into the heavens and smiled until she made her way home to her new life.

THE END.


End file.
